Fireflies and their luminous courtships have inspired centuries of scientific study. Today firefly luciferase is widely used in biotechnology, but the evolutionary origin of bioluminescence within beetles remains unclear. To shed light on this long-standing question, we sequenced the genomes of two firefly species that diverged over 100 million-years-ago: the North American Photinus pyralis and Japanese Aquatica lateralis. To compare bioluminescent origins, we also sequenced the genome of a related click beetle, the Caribbean Ignelater luminosus, with bioluminescent biochemistry near-identical to fireflies, but anatomically unique light organs, suggesting the intriguing hypothesis of parallel gains of bioluminescence. Our analyses support independent gains of bioluminescence in fireflies and click beetles, and provide new insights into the genes, chemical defenses, and symbionts that evolved alongside their luminous lifestyle.

Recent literature on land-use planning proposes the use of innovative collaborative planning (CP) models to resolve planning disputes. This paper uses a participant survey based on 25 evaluative criteria to evaluate an application of CP to land-use planning in British Columbia, Canada. The results show that CP is an effective means of resolving environmental conflict and produces significant additional benefits such as improved stakeholder relations, skills, and knowledge. The case study evaluation also identifies the keys to successful CP management including factors related to process design and external circumstances.

SummaryFireflies are among the best-studied of the bioluminescent organisms. Despite longterm interest in the biochemistry, neurobiology, and evolution of firefly flash signals and the widespread biotechnological applications of firefly luciferase, only a limited set of genes related to this complex trait have been described. To investigate the genetic basis of firefly bioluminescence, we generated a high-quality reference genome for the Big Dipper firefly Photinus pyralis, from which the first laboratory luciferase was cloned, using long-read (PacBio), short-read (Illumina), and Hi-C sequencing technologies. To facilitate comparative genomics, we also generated short-read genome assemblies for a Japanese firefly Aquatica lateralis and a bioluminescent click beetle, Ignelater luminosus. Analyses of these genomic datasets supports at least two independent gains of luminescence in beetles, and provides new insights into the evolution of beetle bioluminescence and chemical defenses that likely co-evolved over their 100 million years of evolution.

A comparative analysis was performed on 18 mitochondrial DNA sequences, or haplotypes, of Lutzomyia (Nyssomyia) whitmani (Antunes & Coutinho) isolated by PCR from 28 individual flies originating from 10 Brazilian locations 150-2500 km apart. A phylogenetic analysis using maximum parsimony indicated support for three to four major lineages (Outgroups were haplotypes of Lutzomyia (Nyssomyia) intermedia (Lutz & Neiva)). One L. whitmani lineage was found in the Atlantic Forest zone of the North East, including the species' type locality, and is distinct from a second monophyletic group of haplotypes located in the drier interior of Brazil, stretching from the Tropic of Capricorn to Teresina just outside Amazonia. This provides no support for a previous hypothesis that L. whitmani sensu stricto is a single form widely-distributed south of Amazonia, and characterized by derived anthropophilic and synanthropic behavioural traits. The ranges of both lineages include populations incriminated in the peri-domestic transmission of Leishmania braziliensis sensu stricto. A third, Amazonian, group of haplotypes was less well-defined. It appears to consist of two sub-lineages which, like the two Leishmania species associated with them, are strictly silvatic and are separated by the Amazon floodplain. The zoophily of the Amazonian populations was not shown to be an ancestral trait. The geographical distributions of the Brazilian lineages are concordant with the broad patterns of bioclimate believed to have persisted since the late Tertiary period. These findings are part of ongoing research on the behavioural genetics of L. whitmani sensu lato aimed at understanding the evolution and maintenance of peri-domestic transmission of human cutaneous leishmaniasis.

Bioluminescence, the conversion of chemical energy into light in living organisms, is dependent on two principal components, an enzyme luciferase and the substrate luciferin. In beetles, the enzyme luciferase has been extensively studied, with significant enzymological, sequence and structural data now available. Furthermore, the enzyme has been employed in a remarkable number of important applications, from microbial detection and medical imaging to GM gene expression studies. However, there is little information regarding the biosynthesis of beetle luciferin, and here we review the literature and speculate as to its evolutionary origins. Luciferin consists of a benzothiazole moiety attached to a thiazole carboxylic acid moiety, the former being rarely observed in nature but the latter being observed in a broad range of biologically derived molecules. Benzothiazoles are, however, observed in melanogenesis and we speculate as to whether this may be relevant to the understanding of luciferin biosynthesis in beetles. This review examines recent novel insights into beetle luciferin recycling and we assess a range of possible biosynthetic mechanisms.